Finding yourself spending more time at home with your little ones right now? As I’m writing this blog post, my family is finishing up our fifth week of being home together. With four kids under the age of 5, I’ve been feeling more overwhelmed than ever. I’m seeing tons of posts on social media about activities to keep kids entertained and engaged, and don’t get me wrong—those posts can help fill the long days we’ve been having. When I’m feeling energetic and motivated, I’ve even shared those sorts of activities on my Sound Speech Facebook page or with my email list. BUT on a day like today, when I just don’t have the energy, brain power or patience to referee a group activity with a bunch of toddlers, I turn to books. For me, books have always been a source of comfort and relaxation. I may not be able to leave my house right now, but I can curl up on the couch under a cozy blanket and travel to another world. And one of my favorite things to do right now is to read books with my girls. So – if you’re like me – check out my top 5 ways to capture my children’s attention while I read with them. P.S. If you want more tips and strategies to help with early readers, I’ve created a webinar just for you. Make sure to sign up here so you’re notified when it’s ready!!
1. Follow their Lead: When feasible, I let them pick the book. Choosing the book helps to keep them invested in the activity because it means I’m no longer fighting to keep them interested. Sometimes after we’ve finished, I let them read the book to an “audience.” They sit in front of the camera on my phone or iPad and read the story out loud. (Sidenote: they never did this before COVID-19!). Not only does this give them a chance to use the language and concepts we covered in the story, but it provides me with some great entertainment!
2. Move Your Body: Another strategy that helps to keep my girls engaged is having them do the actions in the story. This is especially effective for one of my 4-year-olds who just can’t seem to sit still for too long before she starts squirming. If the story has a boat in it, we move our arms and “row” the boat. If the story is about cooking or baking, we “mix the ingredients” with pretend spoons. When we were reading The Ugly Vegetables this morning (about growing a vegetable garden), we “dug the dirt” with our pretend shovels and then watered the seeds with our pretend hoses. Quick little actions that they can do to help break up the story and make it more engaging might be just what your little ones need to make it to the end!
3. Use Character Voices: I like to take on different voices (and even different accents, which I totally butcher) to help keep things interesting and fun. When we read The Gruffalo (one of our favorites!!) I do a squeaky voice for the character of the mouse and a deep, gravelly voice for the character of the Gruffalo. Sometimes I’ll even assign characters so that each of my kids has a turn “reading” the story out loud to help hold their interest.
4. Go Off Script: It’s rare that I read every word of the text. For those of you with babies and young toddlers, this strategy is especially useful. You don’t need to read all the words. You can skip pages if you need (or want) to. If you have older children who are familiar with the story you’re reading, going off script can be a fun way to make them laugh (for example, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you smell?” can lead to some laughter and conversation) and to help hold their attention. And when all else fails, if your child is totally uninterested you can skip to the last page and finish, “The End.” Just be sure to cut to the last page before putting the book away—it helps set the foundation that every book has a beginning, middle, and end.
5. Let Them Read to You: I like to turn the story over to my little ones and have them “read” it to me. It’s always a good way for me to hear what concepts they’ve understood and what new vocabulary words they’ve learned. If one of my girls doesn’t seem too keen on the idea, I’ll negotiate and have them read me one story before I read them another one.
So there you have it. Five tried and true ways I help to keep my children’s attention while reading with them. Children’s books are one of my favorite things to use in my sessions as a speech-language pathologist for children with hearing loss. Trust me when I say this blog post has barely scratched the surface. I could go on and on about this topic. In fact, I put together a webinar that covers pre-literacy milestones (did you know there are pre-literacy skills that babies as young as 3 months old can demonstrate!?), strategies to help set toddlers on the path to being independent readers, and book suggestions for children ages birth through five!!! Want in? Click here to sign up and be the first to know when it’s on sale!
